Life question reflects nation’s nature & equality of humans

Q: On Thursday, you won the endorsement of Dr. James Dobson, the founder of the Focus on the Family.

A: Yes.

Q: Dobson said McCain was “not a conservative” because of his stance on abortion, among other things. Do you agree with Dr. Dobson?

A:
I would say that if you compare Sen. McCain to Hillary or Obama, he’s much a conservative. I do think that there are issues where he takes sharp contrast with the mainstream of conservative thought. And those are real sensitive issues for many of us.
The life issue is a defining issue for me personally. Because we think that if you are wrong on the life question, it reflects a misunderstanding of the nature of our nation and the equality of human beings, that there is intrinsic worth and value in
each of us, that individual power and freedom that our founding fathers so believed in that they put their lives on the line for it, begins to deteriorate at the point when you start saying some lives are worth more than others.

Will lead fight for constitutional ban on abortion

I would support and be willing to lead a Human Life Amendment to the constitution. Our Founding Fathers said we’re all equal. At the heart of understanding that, if we are indeed equal, all of us have intrinsic worth, and no one has more than another.
I believe the sanctity of a human life is rooted in who we are as a culture and as a civilization. And should we turn our back on this fundamental truth, we have turned our back on the very essence and foundation of who we are as a people.

I’m pro-life, but have no opinion on Justice O’Connor

Q: Was O’Connor the right choice?

A: History will have to determine that. We need to talk about why the issue of right-to-life is important. For many of us, this is an issue of principle and conviction. It goes to the heart of who we are as a country.
If we value each other as human beings & believe that everybody has equal worth, and that that intrinsic value is not affected by net worth, or ancestry, or last name, or job description, or ability, or disability, then the issue of the sanctity of human
life is far bigger than just being anti-abortion. It’s about being pro-life and exercising that deep conviction held by our founding fathers that all of us are equal & no one is more equal than another, recognizing that once we ever decide that some
people are more equal or less equal than others, then we start moving that line, & it may include us some day. I’m pro-life. I value every human being. I would always make every decision always on the side of life every time I could, without equivocation

No states rights for moral issues like abortion

Q: Thompson and McCain both talk about leaving abortion to the states, the way it was before Roe vs. Wade ever became the law of the land in the first place. Why isn’t that good enough?

A: Well, it’s the logic of the Civil War.
If morality is the point here, and if it’s right or wrong, not just a political question, then you can’t have 50 different versions of what’s right and what’s wrong. Again, that’s what the whole Civil War was about.
Can you have states saying slavery is OK, other states saying it’s not? If abortion is a moral issue--and for many of us it is, and I know for others it’s not.
So if you decide that it’s just a political issue, then that’s a perfectly acceptable, logical conclusion. But for those of us for whom this is a moral question, you can’t simply have 50 different versions of what’s right.

No tax funding for organizations that promote abortion

Q: The Mexico City Policy states that as a condition for a foreign organization to receive federal funds, they will neither “perform nor actively promote abortion.” Would you work to apply this Mexico City policy to organizations within the US?

HUCKABEE: Are we being asked to apply a Mexican law to the US?

Q: It’s the principle of not giving our tax dollars to organizations within our country that actively promote or provide abortions. It’s an American law.

BROWNBACK: This is Ronald Reagan’
policy that we wouldn’t use federal funds to support organizations that promote abortions overseas.

HUNTER: It’s actually a UN policy.

KEYES: Actually, it was a policy of the Mexico City Population Conference. I was the deputy chairman. I actually
negotiated the language into the final resolution at that conference.

Led Arkansas to human life amendment in state constitution

I would love to see us have in this country what I helped lead in our state in Arkansas, and that’s a human life amendment to our state constitution,
Amendment 65, that says that we believe life begins at conception, and that we ought to do everything in the world possible to protect it until its natural conclusion. And that means that we truly value and respect, elevate and celebrate every life.

Source: 2007 GOP debate at UNH, sponsored by Fox News
, Sep 5, 2007

Consensus impossible: pro-choice world fundamentally differs

Dr. Joycelyn Elders told Christians they needed to “get over their love affair with the fetus”--a phrase that was often repeated after she became Clinton’s surgeon general. The comment particularly offended Christian believers. Clinton asked me how much
of a problem it was causing. I told him it was a serious problem. She had deeply offended many people. It was a slap in the face to those who held pro-life convictions. “I wish you would explain to her how people in the evangelical world feel. Would you
be willing to talk to her,“ asked Clinton.

I said I would be happy to. Clinton set up a meeting. After talking, I recognized she was absolutely sincere in her beliefs. I realized that the reason her positions on these issues so conflicted with mine was
that our worldviews were fundamentally at odds. Reaching a consensus was impossible. She had her own idea of what a ”dash“ of salt was--in this case, a ”dash“ of human life--and recognized no standard that could show her she was wrong.

Hate abortion but allow it is like hate slavery but allow it

Q [to GIULIANI]: You have said that you personally hate abortion but support a woman’s right to choose. Gov. Huckabee says that’s like saying, “I hate slavery, but people can go ahead and practice it.” Tell me why he’s wrong.

GIULIANI: There is no
circumstances under which I could possibly imagine anyone choosing slavery or supporting slavery. There are millions of Americans, who are as of good conscience as we are, who make a different choice about abortion. And I think in a country where you
want to keep government out of people’s lives from the point of view of coercion, you have to respect that.

Q: Governor, has the mayor persuaded you?

HUCKABEE: He has not. I have great respect for the mayor because he’s been honest about his position

Pro-life includes improving life after birth

Q: South Dakota had some proposed legislation to outlaw all abortion except saving the life of a mother, no exceptions for rape or incest. You said you’d sign that. Why?

A: I always am going to err on the side of life. I believe life is precious. I hav
been in the pro-life camp since I was a teenager. It’s because of my view that God is the creator and instigator of life. But those of us in the pro-life movement have to do also some expanding. Life begins at conception but it doesn’t end at birth.
And if we’re really pro-life we have to be concerned about more than just the gestation period. [My administration] passed pro-life legislation, but we also did things that improved the environmental quality that would affect a child’s air and water;
that he had a better education, & better access to affordable health care. So I think that real pro-life people need to be concerned about affordable housing, safe neighborhoods, access to a college education. That, for me, is what pro-life has to mean.

Outlaw all abortions; err on the side of life

Q: South Dakota had some proposed legislation to outlaw all abortion except saving the life of a mother, no exceptions for rape or incest. You said you’d sign that. Why?

A: I always am going to err on the side of life. I believe life is precious. It’s
because of my view that God is the creator and instigator of life.

Q: But if you outlawed abortion, what would happen to the doctor who performed an abortion? What would happen to the woman who had an abortion?

A: Well, I think the question is, Do I
think the South Dakota bill is the best bill that ever could be signed? This is a debate that’s been so divisive. What we really need to be doing is having the discussion center around how can we create a culture where people value and celebrate life.

Q: As president, you would seek to ban abortion?

A: I would seek always to promote the view that life is precious and should be protected. But I think it has to be won on a battlefield of one heart at a time rather than pieces of legislation at a time.

Pro-life and pro-death penalty, & sees them as far different

Some wonder how a person so pro-life as me could accept the law of a death penalty. But a death sentence is a result of a lengthy and thorough judicial process applied to a person deemed guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. That’s far different from
one person singularly deciding to end the life of a totally innocent and helpless unborn child. In that case, there is no process of justice, no evidence of guilt presented, no defense for the condemned child, and no appeal.

Even Americans who are pro-choice are pro-life

It would be fair to say that I am in politics because I am pro-life. By no means am I a single-issue person, but on that single issue I am steadfastly consistent. The abortion issue goes to the very heart of what I believe and it is consistent with the
American tradition of giving voice to the voiceless.

The record I am proudest of is having signed numerous pieces of pro-life legislation., including a ban on partial-birth abortion. Another bill established a woman’s right to know, ensuring her
consent to an abortion is an informed one, based on the same information she would be given if she were removing her tonsils instead of her baby. Equally important was legislation mandating parents be informed and provide consent before the serious
surgical procedure of an abortion could be performed on a minor. We also pushed through legislation requiring doctors to inform the mother that the unborn child will feel pain, and provide the option to anesthetize the baby prior to abortion.

Supports woman’s right-to-know legislation

[We should] provide for every person who’s contemplating the termination of her child during pregnancy that she has information, knowing fully and completely the procedure that is taking place and what it will mean.
Commonly called the woman’s right-to-know legislation, it really goes back to school, back to educating people.

Source: 2001 State of the State address to the Arkansas legislature
, Jan 9, 2001

Pro-life, but respects choice as mandated law

I’m pro life, but I know not everyone agrees with me on that particular topic, and I respect that. I’ll probably never change my conviction on that, and some of you won’t change yours.
But in this day in which we talk about choice and the importance of it, surely we can agree that if under the Supreme Court choice is mandated, that choice should be as educated a choice as is humanly possible.

Source: 2001 State of the State address to the Arkansas legislature
, Jan 9, 2001

By deciding abortion is OK, we're our own god

Public debate today is filled with arguments that, not long ago, would have been dismissed as ridiculous.

Abortion became OK because we decided it is OK. Where did we get the right to make that decision? Because we're our own god. If the inconvenience
of this little child would interrupt our college education or a relationship with a boyfriend or girlfriend, then that child became nothing more than a choice. "It's my choice. I decide for myself. What about me?" That is the essence of our culture.